Inservice on a Saturday?

FNSBSD teachers would be up in arms over teacher in-service on a weekend, but all schools in the NW Arctic School District met Saturday for meetings.  Tim and I were a bit sleepy after the sleepover madness, but the morning meeting was a very productive one (and thankfully didn't meet until 10 am).  The staff first talked about things  in the last month that were going well, struggles, things that worked well, evidence of progress, ideas for parent involvement...  I was very impressed with how much they were able to cover in a couple of hours, the way the staff stayed on task, and especially the lack of complaining!

A funny photo was taken to send to one of the teacher's moms who keeps the staff stocked with candy and other fun things from Outside.

We even got to meet the legendary Glenn, a 16-year Kianan, 20-year teacher, principal, who now works at the Red Dog Mine.  He's a skilled trapper, hunter, storyteller, and he knows a lot about the land and how to survive here.

We stopped by the store to get some cream cheese.  (Tim's tub of cream cheese was confiscated by TSA because "it doesn't hold its shape outside of the container" - which I would argue depends on the temperature, but whatever).  Dorsey's grocery was an incredibly well-stocked store, and the prices weren't too shocking except for a jar of Smucker's raspberry jam:

The Babtist church has been in Kiana for about 10 years, while Friend's Church has been around for many decades.
We had two wonderful tour guides, 7th grade girls - one from Barrow, one from Thailand originally, show us around town.  The view from this lookout is right at the confluence of the Squirrel River and the two channels ("big and little channel") of the Kobuk River - Qayaana!
A plane flew right over us as we approached the cemetery.   

A lot of the crosses had birth dates from the turn of the century.  I can't imagine living here with no electricity, no water, no store, no communication - these must have been some of the toughest people in the world.

Another 7th grader came by on her sno-go with her little brothers.  Zipping around town visiting friends and family is the thing to do.